"The number one cause of global warming gases worldwide is animal agriculture" - Dave Way, EarthSave President.

EarthSave Canada is a non-profit organization that outlines to people the environmental, health and ethical consequences of what people eat.

Dave Way is touring the Okanagan discussing the facts brought up in the 2006 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations called Livestock's Long Shadow. Basically, the main issue is that raising animals for food affects climate change more than people think.

There are lots of concerns about using food grains as biofuels but not much for using those grains as animal feed. Last year, 100 million tonnes of grain were used to make biofuels but 760 million tonnes were fed to animals. The raising of animals for food contributes significantly to the release of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

For instance, 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to the raising of livestock, compared to 13% for transportation. Fossil fuels burned to raise animals range from running tractors to supplying electricity for their operations. Also, the 1.5 billion cows and tens of billions of pigs, chickens and goats release methane gas which is 20 to 25% stronger than carbon dioxide.

Providing grains for the livestock requires clearing out forests to plant feed, then fertilized with petroleum based chemicals that contain nitrous oxide which is 300 times stronger than CO2.

Diets heavy in protein are also causes of many diseases. Thus, we should limit the amount of meat we eat and take part in programs such as Meatless Mondays etc. Even if we reduce our meat intake by 20%, there would be a significant impact on climate change.